Lou Perryman, 1942 - 2009.

By David Hudson on 04/04/2009

[Updated through 4/9]

"Longtime character actor Lou Perryman, a familiar face whose film credits include 'The Blues Brothers,' 'Boys Don't Cry,' 'Poltergeist' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2' was found dead Thursday in Austin, the victim of an apparent homicide." Rattling news from Sean ONeal: "If I may be allowed to comment on a personal note: Regular readers of The AV Club may remember an interview I conducted with Perryman and his friend Sonny Carl Davis about their work with filmmaker Eagle Pennell, a creative partnership that spawned the cult films 'The Whole Shootin' Match' and 'Last Night at the Alamo.' That interview remains a career highlight for me."

Glenn Kenny met Perryman virtually, following a review of "Shootin' Match" for The Auteurs' Notebook: "It felt like one of those situations where one had found a friend via confrontation.... He struck me as a larger than life character who loved Austin, took a lot of pride in his work, and loved cinema and life in equal measure. I had really looked forward to getting to know him better, and now I - and we - never will."

The Austin Chronicle's Kimberley Jones has more details on the murder and a reminder of Marc Savlov's interview with Perryman and Davis in 2007.

Update, 4/7: The Austin Movie Blog posts information from Jennifer Perryman, Lou's daughter, regarding memorial services in Austin and Los Angeles.

Updates, 4/9: "Perryman was a damn fine character actor in the best sense of the term and an even better representative of old weird Austin (and by extension the whole of the Weird Star State), from the corners of his lopsided, hound-dog smile to the tips of his dust-scuffed Ropers." Marc Savlov in the Austin Chronicle. "He was a charmer and a sweetheart and, hell yeah, a bit of an outlaw - again, in the complimentary sense of the word - and a lifetime dues-paying member of that fast-vanishing breed, the native Texan, yarn-spinning actor/artist and all-around jaw dog, as in: 'You wanna go get another round? All your jawing is making me thirsty, and it's your turn to buy.' He was, in short, one of our own."

Picture in Picture not only has a video tribute to Lou Perryman but a remembrance from Watchmaker Films' Mark Rance as well.

[Photo: "The Whole Shootin' Match," Watchmaker Films, 1978]

Tags: Lou Perryman, The Whole Shootin' Match